Parker's Island (14 page)

“There must be something you can do.”

“I don’t know what.  If I force her to have a paternity test
and her father finds out, it will destroy
not only
him
, but
my mother’s company.  So, I’ve agreed to stay married, for now, as long as she doesn’t set one foot on my island.”

“You’d think she’d want to be with the baby’s father.”

“She wants to save face.”

“Do you know who he is?”
I asked.

“I know a few of them, but I’m not
exactly
sure
which one of them is the
father.”

“There’s more than one?”

“Yes, but I don’t care.  She can do what she wants as long as she stays away from me.”

“I don’t understand why she would cheat on you.  You kept your end of the bargain.
  Why would she even want to stray?
  You’re so…perfect
,
”
I admitted, and then blushed.

“
I’m not perfect, Delaney, not by a long shot.  If I were, then I wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“I still don’t understand why she would cheat on you?” I asked again.

“
Because I could never bring myself to…”

“To what?”
I asked naively.

“To s
leep with her
.”

“
You don’t find her attractive
?”

“No, that’s not it.
  She’s
a
beautiful
woman
.”

“Then
,
why?”

“Because
…
s
he’s not you.”

I blushed
again,
stunned by his confession.

“I’m sorry
.
I didn’t mean to embarrass you.  You had to know how I feel about
you
.
I’ve never been able to keep my eyes off of you.”

“I honestly didn’t know.”

“It doesn’t matter.  I refuse to get you involved in my mess and it’s not fair to ask you to wait.”

“I will, though.  I’ll wait for
as long as it takes
.”

“No!  N
o
,
you won’t!  You’re going home today
to start your life and if by some miracle
at the end of the
three years,
if
some man hasn’t won your heart, then I’ll do everything in my power to win it.”

“You already have!  It’s yours
.  I
t’s been yours.  Don’t you know that?” I asked, shocked that he
had
n’t see
n
right through me.

“
Delaney, I
’
m a married man.  You can’t waste your life waiting for me.  Please, I couldn’t live with myself if I thought you were missing out on life because of me.”

“I tried to go on without you last night.  That certainly didn’t go
very
well.”  Tears sprung to my eyes as the pain renewed itself.

“I still wish you’d tell me who it was
,
”
h
e said, touching my cheek, and sending that same electric shock through my entire body.

“I just want to forget about it.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be that easy
,
”
h
e said, anticipating the pain I didn’t know was coming.
  “Is there someone you can talk to about this
,
Molly, maybe?”

“NO!  She can never know!  She will never leave me alone about it until she knows who…”
c
hills ran down my spine as C
had’s image ran through my mind, and I shivered in response.

“
But you need to talk to someone about what happened
, if you won’t tell me.”

“Logan, please understand that I have to let this go.  I have to.”
             

“Okay
,
”
h
e said, but his face betrayed what his emotions were telling him.

“Logan, please don’t!  Whatever you’re planning, just don’t!
”

“I’m not planning anything.”

“Now who’s lying?  I can see it.  Please, just drop it
.  F
or me
?
”
I
asked
, touching the side of his face.

“
I would do anything for you, but h
e has to pay.”

“What good would it do?”

“What if he tries it again?”

“He won’t get that chance!” I said with absolute certainty.

“What if h
e tries it with someone else?” h
e asked, almost apologetically, as if he didn’t want me to have to suffer that burden.

“I hadn’t thought of that.”
  A sudden chill ran down my spine again.

“Tell me who it
was
and I’ll take care of it!”

“What does that mean?”
I asked, fearful, not for Chad, but for Logan.

“It means that I won’t let him hurt you, or anyone else again.”

Neither of us spoke for a moment and then I said,
“I think I need to call Molly
now
.  S
he’s proba
bly beside herself with panic.”
             

“Fine
,
”
h
e said,
looking angry, but
got
the
phone
for me
anyway.

“Where the
h
ell have you been?
” 
Molly yelled into the phone.
“
Are you okay?”
s
he asked
,
calmed a bit now that I had called and she knew I wasn’t dead.

“I’m fine.  I’m still on the island.”

“What happened?  Where did you go?”

“I…got sick.”

“We looked for you all night.  Brian is still there looking for you.  I came home just in case you were here.  I thought maybe you couldn’t handle the party and came home
,
”
s
he said, obviously upset.

“I’m fine
, r
eally.  I’m taking the 12:00 ferry home.  Can you pick me up?”
  I asked.  “You haven’t talked to my parents
,
have you?”

“Are you crazy
?  W
hy would I do that?”

I breathed a sigh of relief.  “Thanks
,
Molly.”

“Don’t ‘Thanks Molly me’
.  Y
ou owe me big for putting me through that
,
”
s
he threatened, sounding more like herself.

“Okay, just don’t tell anyone anything, and pick me up
…please.
”

“How can I tell anyone anything when I don’t know anything?  You owe me and Brian an explanation!” 

“Brian, right.”  I had blocked him out of my mind along with so many other things.  “Did you say he was still here, looking for me?”

“Yeah!  He’s checking every ferry for you. 
He searched the island all night.  We both did. 
He’s worried sick
.  W
e all were!”

“I’m so sorry.  I’ll explain everything when I see you
,
” I said, not exactly sure what the explanation was going to be.

“
Where are you?” s
he asked.

Not wanting to get into that, I said, “I’m at a house on the island.  Someone
took me in and took care of me,
” I said, looking at Logan with sincere gratitude.

“Who?”

“I can’t explain it right now.”

“Well, Brian is due to call me to check in.  Can I give him this number?”

“Um, I guess so.”

“Fine, I’ll give it to him.  You be on that Ferry!”
s
he ordered.

“I promise
,
I will
,
” I said sadly, realizing my time with Logan was almost over.

“I’ll see you soon.”

“Okay
.  T
hanks Molly.”

“Don’t thank me yet
.  Y
ou
still
have a lot of explaining to do!”

“I know, Bye.”

“I’ll bet she was happy to hear from you
,
” Logan said, as I put the phone down.

“I don’t think ‘happy’ is the right word.  She’s really angry with me.”

“She was worried, and she has a right to know the truth.”

“Please don’t start this again.  I have to leave
soon
, so c
an’t we just talk about something else?”

“What would you like to talk about?”

Just then the phone rang, and before I could
tell Logan that it would probably be Brian, he answered it.

“Hello.”

“Hello, who is this?” Brian asked, expecting me to answer the phone.

“I think it’s for me
,
” I
whispered.

“
Who are you calling for
?”
Logan
asked
.

“Delaney
Miller
,
”
Brian
said.

“She’s right here.”

“Brian?”

“Where are you?  Are you okay?”
h
e asked, sounding frantic.

“I’m fine.  I’m sorry I scared you.”

“Where are you?  I’ll come get you
,
”
h
e said.

“Um, I’ll meet you at the Ferry at noon, okay?”

“Not this time.  I want to know where you are!  I think you owe me that much!”

“Brian, I’ll meet you at the ferry and I’ll explain everything.”

Knowing I wasn’t going to tell him where I was, he said, “Fine
,
” and hung up the phone.

“I’m sorry I answered
it
.  I
t
’s
a
habit
,
”
Logan said.

“It’s your phone.  I should have told you he was going to call.  I didn’t think it would be quite so soon.”

“What are you going to tell him?” Logan asked,
looking at me strangely.

“I don’t know.  He’s such a nice guy.  I’ve put him through so much.”

“It wasn’t your fault.  None of it!
  He’s definitely going to know something happened, maybe you should tell him
,
then
.
”

“We’ve been through this, I’m not telling anyone!”

“Then what are you going to say, and how are you going to explain me?”

“I don’t think he knew it was you
,
” I said.

“And when I drop you off at the Ferry?”

“I guess I’ll just have to say that you were the one that took care of me.  That part at least will be the truth.  He knew I was sick.  I think Ch…Brian was given something to make him sick
,
too
,
” I said, almost saying Chad’s name, and hoping I had covered my tracks well enough.”

Logan looked at me funny.  I could see him thinking
about it, so I added, “Brian knows how I feel about you.  He won’t be surprised.”

“I guess we should get going
,
”
h
e said, obviously still thinking about my slip of the tongue.

“Is it that late?” I
aske
d, suddenly
upset that my time with him was almost over.

“I think Brian has probably been through enough.” 

I glanced at the clock above his head and said, “The ferry doesn’t leave for
over
an hour.  Don’t make me go yet, please.”

“I don’t ever want you to
go, but we both know you have to.”

“Not yet.  I don’t know when I’ll see you again
,
” I said, hoping it wouldn’t be too long.